The Maya city of Tikal is famous for its soaring palaces and temples. But something far more humble kept Tikal functioning: its water filtration system, the earliest known of its kind. Researchers recently discovered a volcanic mineral that captures microbes and heavy metals in one of Tikal’s largest reservoirs. Because the material is not found […]
Pompeii dig reveals ‘almost perfect’ remains of a master and his slave The almost perfectly preserved remains of two men have been unearthed in an extraordinary discovery in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. The bodies of what are thought to be a wealthy man and his slave, believed to have died as they were […]
One constellation is called “Apedu n Ra,” or “The Geese of Ra.” The restoration of a soot-filled ancient Egyptian temple has revealed the previously unknown names of ancient Egyptian constellations, according to experts in Germany and Egypt. The restoration has also uncovered the gorgeous original colors the ancient Egyptians painted the 2,000-year-old temple. As workers in Egypt […]
More than 100 found in shafts so far. The number of mummy-filled coffins found in a series of burial shafts at Saqqara in Egypt keeps growing, archaeologists with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities reported. At the start of September, the team had found 13 coffins with mummies inside. By the beginning of October, that number had […]
Artefacts held by British Museum and other western institutions were looted by British forces in 1897 A new museum designed by Sir David Adjaye is to be built following the most extensive archaeological excavation ever undertaken in Benin City, Nigeria, raising hopes of a resolution to one of the world’s most controversial debates over looted museum artefacts. […]
This special U.S. Army unit remained secret for over 40 years. Today (Sept. 2) marks the 75th anniversary of Word War II‘s end. During this historic global conflict, hundreds of bloody skirmishes were waged on land, sea and air. But one top-secret U.S. Army battalion fought not with bullets but with stagecraft, using inflatable life-size tanks, […]
The child’s remains were painted with red ochre. Archaeologists have discovered the rare burial of a young child who was laid to rest 8,000 years ago without arm and leg bones, a new study finds. The child, who was no older than 8, was buried on what is now Alor Island, Indonesia. During the burial […]
Study of Mount Pleasant site suggests it was constructed over decades, not centuries An intense burst of building work took place in Britain at the end of the neolithic period, possibly as a “final hurrah” by stone-age man and woman as they sensed the approach of fundamental change, research on a prehistoric monument in Dorset […]
Two corroded Roman-era iron nails that some have suggested pinned Jesus to the cross appear to have been used in an ancient crucifixion, according to a new study. This research has reignited debate over the origin of the nails. The new analysis suggests the nails were lost from the tomb of the Jewish high priest Caiaphas, who […]
A British art historian’s painstaking study of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela uncovered a medieval prank He is a medieval in-joke, a male figure carved in the early 12th century for one of the world’s greatest cathedrals, but no one has known of his existence until now. The figure has gone unnoticed by millions […]
